Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to appeal ruling

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday voted to submit an appeal to the state’s Supreme Court of a recent ruling challenging the commission’s decision to suspend a veterinarian for five years.

The decision to submit the appeal for “discretionary review” to the Supreme Court comes less than a month after the state’s Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s ruling to uphold the suspension, which was issued to Dr. Rod Stewart after a 2007 search of his possessions at Keeneland uncovered cobra venom, a nerve agent, and two drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease.

The Court of Appeals ruled that the statutes used to determine the penalty were “vague” since they did not specifically prohibit the possession of cobra venom and because the state’s Standardbred rules recognized the use of the painkiller.

The court issued its ruling with the legal distinction “not to be published,” meaning that the case would not be used as precedent without further action from state courts.